MYENGINEER, CHAPTER 2: The First Rose
[Bohn]
“Heh heh.”
A laugh came from the throat of a young man, the owner of sharp, charismatic eyes with a rugged, heart-stopping look – that man could only be me. Hello. Right now, I’m sitting at my usual table at what engineering students call the ‘Gear Plaza’.
The reason I’m here is…I’m waiting for Duen.
Right now, the plaza is as crowded as usual. I bet when that idiot walks in, he’ll become the center of attention because why? Think about it, how many people would dare to walk in carrying flowers to give to an engineering student at the faculty? If it were a girl, that’d be one thing, but here, both the giver and the receiver are guys.
“Your face looks terrible, Bohn.”
“Shut up, Boss.”
“Why so harsh, hubbie, Bohn is being mean to me.” Boss pretends to cling tightly to his ‘husband’, but in reality, Merk and Boss aren’t actually a couple. We’ve teased them so much that everyone in the faculty knows about this ‘marriage’. Initially, it was just among our group, but now the whole faculty knows about the quiet husband and the wild wife of Engineering.
“Go far away, get lost if you want to stay alive.” But to tell the truth, Boss was just playing by himself.
“Where’s Tang gone?”
“Chasing after a girl from the accounting faculty.”
Our group consists of seven people. Me, Boss, Merk, Tang, King, Bom, and Tee. The last three have different majors, so we don’t hang out as much. We only really meet during lunch or after classes.
Me, Boss, and Merk graduated from the same high school. We share similar interests, which is why we decided to come to this university together. You might wonder how we got close to the other three. I don’t remember exactly, but I think we met during freshman orientation when the seniors made us form groups of seven, and we just happened to be together. After that, our quirks clicked, and we’ve been a gang ever since.
“What time is it, Boss?”
“Eight.”
“When’s our calculus class?”
“Nine…hey, dude, I’m not your secretary. Can you stop asking questions you can answer yourself?” I shrugged off Bohn, ignoring him…It’s only eight o’clock? There’s still plenty of time to wait, but Duen should be here soon. He’s not foolish enough to go looking for the flower-selling kid, right?
Today, I planned to go for a walk in the park again, hoping to encounter something unusual, like yesterday. Duen is truly strange, like he’s from another world, or maybe he’s an alien who got kicked out of his spaceship on Earth.
“Bohn.”
“…”
“Bohn!!!”
“…Why are you shouting, Boss?” I covered my ears while looking at my best friend who was yelling at me. That sound was really damaging to my eardrums. If I go deaf, I’m blaming you.
“…”
“What’s wrong with you, Bohn?”
“What’s wrong? I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not fine. I’ve been calling you for ages, and you didn’t hear. Plus, you had this weird look on your face, smiling like someone who’s smoked too much weed.” The mischievous wifey from Engineering hubbie looked at me suspiciously.
“Just thinking a bit.”
“Thinking about what?” Why do you all have to speak in unison like this?
“It’s almost Buhn’s birthday. I was thinking about what to get him.” It’s really close to Buhn’s birthday, but…to be honest, his birthday wasn’t even on my mind, heh heh.
“Oh, and then go…buy a dildo, Hia Buhn might like it.”
“Keep it for yourself, you jerk.”
“You guyssss.”
Oh my. I don’t even need to turn around to know whose voice that is. If you’re going to shout that loudly, Tang, at least have some consideration for others…see, everyone in the plaza is looking now.
“Quiet down, Tang!”
“Why are you shouting back at him, Boss?” Yeah, kick him, Merk, I’ve been annoyed with Boss for a while now.
“Sorry, but why do you have to resort to physical violence?”
“It’s been going on for a long time.”
“Enough. Go love each other somewhere else…I’ve got a story to tell, I guarantee you haven’t heard this one.” After Tang finished speaking, the word ‘interested’ immediately appeared on Boss’s face. Oh my, not often that you show interest, my dear friend Thanarit.
“What is it?”
“Last night, I went to Phii Keng’s pub.”
“And then what?” Boss covered his ears with his hands, looking left and right as if the story was a national secret.
“I met May…”
“Oh! I thought it was some big deal; I see him every time I go there, more often than seeing the servers.” True, May is probably at the pub more than at his own home; he should just change his address or marry the owner so he doesn’t have to keep coming and going.
“Wait, Anon! Do you know who he was with…”
“You really try hard.”
“Who was it…”
“Frong.”
“Frong, the manager?”
“Yes.”
“…”
“And what’s so interesting about it, Tang?”
“Oh. You guys already knew?”
“Huh, we just learned from you.”
“Well, why aren’t you surprised? I was shocked.”
“What’s there to be shocked about?”
“The fact that a quiet, sophisticated guy like Frong is with May!”
“You’re right, Frong doesn’t seem like he’d go for someone so wild.”
“Or maybe he doesn’t. Do you know what friends are, Tang…” After that, I let them continue their playful conversation without joining in. Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced my friends to you yet. Let’s start then, or you’ll get more confused about who’s who.
Boss Thanarit, is playful, and everyone in our faculty loves him. His dad is a soldier, and his mom is a Thai language teacher. Not sure how they managed to raise such an eccentric kid, haha. Here, he’s known as the ‘naughty wife’ from his nickname with his partner.
Merk Setthakit, originally his name was spelled “imac.” but his dad thought it was funny, so they changed it to Setthakit. How to describe his personality…he’s quiet. At the faculty, they call him the “silent husband.” That’s it, done.
Tang Wararit, looks a bit Chinese, women like him, he’s smart, has a good memory, and is a notorious flirt, but bad at studying, dedicated to chasing girls.
Tee Phatharawinthorn, normally has a good personality if you overlook his taste in food, a bit hot-tempered, gets angry easily, but he’s a good guy.
Bom Darin, whenever I say his real name, people think he’s a girl. His looks match his name; Bom is a handsome guy, almost as pretty as a tomboy. He has the most normal personality in the group; well, no, I am the most normal, then Bom, then Merk, the rest aren’t normal at all…
King Kantithat, everyone calls him ‘Lord King’ because he’s academically excellent but not in a nerdy way, more like an artistic genius. He can top his classes without studying…suspicious, does he have a guardian spirit or something?
And me!!!
Bohn, the university’s ruggedly handsome guy, that’s all, I’m tired.
“Half an hour left, shall we wait in the classroom?”
Tang’s voice interrupted my thoughts, damn, why does time pass so quickly? It felt like it was just eight o’clock a moment ago. What should I do? Duen, that little shit, isn’t here yet. Should I wait for him?
I’m afraid if he comes and doesn’t find me here, especially if he’s being his usual slow self.
“You guys go ahead, I’ll follow later.” In the end, I decided to wait for you if you don’t show up, you’ll be in big trouble, Duen.
“Huh, really?”
“I’ve got diarrhea, I need to go to the bathroom first.” Normally, I’m good at lying, but I couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough just now.
“Should I go with you? How did you get diarrhea?” Don’t try to be nice now, Merk, just stay quiet like usual.
“It’s fine, I can go alone. It must have been from the new dish my mom made last night.” Sorry, Mom, I’ll give you a great massage when I get home, Bohn promises.
“Your mom is really trying hard.” My mom isn’t good at cooking, but with her strong spirit, she keeps trying to invent new recipes to improve her skills. She says, ‘I can’t make food with a fixed recipe; it’s not worthy of my skills.’
“I can wait for you to go to the bathroom.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I…stink, I’m embarrassed.” Trust me on this, I beg you.
“Oh, you jerk, we’re friends, what’s there to be embarrassed about? Okay, fine, up to you.” Thanks for being so straightforward…Boss.
“That’s it. You guys go ahead.” After I begged them to go to class, Boss nodded and led the way. Of course, he was the only one who walked away.
“You are acting suspicious.” …Tang.
“Do you have something up your sleeve?” …Merk.
“Sigh, sometimes I wish you guys would pretend to be as dumb as Boss.” I sighed in resignation, causing my conversation partners to smile like victors, but that was all it took, these two are wickedly smart.
“I can pretend to believe what you say.” You could just say that, why do you have to pick your ear with your pinky and blow it out too, ew, don’t blow it towards me, you disgusting Tang.
“…”
“See you in half an hour, go to the bathroom with peace of mind.” Wararit patted my shoulder gently before following the quiet husband. I’m really tired of people who see through everything.
When are you coming, you pale fool, Duen, or did you forget? No way, he managed to get into that faculty, which means his memory must be exceptional…But honestly, Duen is kind of an airhead, could he have really forgotten? It’s already half past eight. In another half hour, I have to go to class.
8:38 AM, there’s still time, come quickly, you pale fool, Duen.
8:43 AM, you’re taking too long.
9:12 AM, if you come now, I’ll drag you to Alex to get your legs bitten!
Ding!
Phii Boss Same Person Just Upgraded to Being Annoying: Where are you, Bohn?
Bon Ss: At the gear plaza.
Phii Boss, Same Person Just Upgraded to Being Annoying: What the hell are you doing there? You said you needed to go to the bathroom.
Bon Ss: I’ve gone.
Phii Boss, Same Person Just Upgraded to Being Annoying: Then hurry up and come up, the professor is already here. Even if you’re the teacher’s pet, being late isn’t excused.
Bon Ss: Yeah, yeah.
You bastard, Duen, if I see you, I’ll punch you for making the teacher’s pet, me, (going to) get scolded…While I was plotting ways to punish the young doctor, I suddenly heard a group of people talking.
“He missed the class again.”
“Come on, don’t hold it against him.”
“It’s happened several times!”
“You know that a med student’s time is as precious as gold.”
“Yeah…he probably doesn’t have time to hang out with us doing nonsense, sigh.”
Right, his time is as precious as gold; he probably doesn’t have time to do something as pointless as bringing flowers to me.
In the end, I decided not to wait any longer for him, packed up my things, and went to class. It was just a verbal promise; it’s not surprising if Duen bailed.
Whatever. I’m not upset. Just feel a bit disappointed about being stood up.
“You should take notes here. I might include this in the final.”
The professor’s words made us all wilt. Honestly, his teaching doesn’t help me understand the millions of numbers on the board at all. I don’t know if it’s because he teaches too fast or I’m just dumb. Best to record it and listen later.
Rrrr
“Shit. Who’s calling? Good thing I had it on vibrate.” Tang said quietly, looking down at his phone, the screen displaying ‘Bom’.
“What, Bom? I’m in class…ha, that’s Tang, the Electric Engineering guy…I don’t know, ask Tang, he’s close to the Tiger…yeah, okay, wait a sec…087-42x-xxxx, yeah yeah.”
“What’s up?”
“Bom called the wrong number, thought I was Electric Engineering Tang. He said someone came looking for Tiger and was waiting for him at Gear Plaza.”
Someone looking for Tiger and waiting at Gear Plaza? Wow, what a coincidence, I guess people in my faculty can’t think of any other meeting place besides Gear Plaza.
“Man or woman?”
“Man, he’s holding something, looks like flowers.”
“Wow, then he must be here to flirt. We need to find out who this is.”
Tiger, the subject of our conversation, is someone everyone agrees must have graduated with honors. He’s round, has a tanned complexion typical of kids from the south, likes to carry calculus books around, carries a bag heavier than a gas cylinder, wears glasses thicker than a limited edition Khmer dictionary, written by Yod Dok Sadao, and has a pretty good personality.
“You jerk.”
Wait a minute…I seem to have forgotten something important. I…haven’t told Duen my real name, and if I remember correctly, what Hia Ta calls me…
“Hey, you, Tiger.”
“Tiger.”
“Tiger.” Ding!
“Professor! I forgot where I left my car keys, may I go get them, please!” “Uh…yeah, go ahead.”
Everyone looked shocked when I suddenly rushed out of the classroom without waiting for the professor’s response because I knew he would allow it, but even if he didn’t, I would have gone anyway.
Could it be you?
Would you really skip class to come see me?
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, my destination being the gear plaza. I didn’t even know what I was doing; the person holding the flowers might not even be Duen. There was no reason for me to run myself ragged.
…I was probably just wanting to exercise.
After running for a while, my legs stopped at the gear plaza, my eyes scanning and stopping at someone’s back. Even though we just met yesterday, I remembered it well.
“Wow, this Tiger isn’t ordinary.”
“Wow, what’s your name, junior?”
“Uh, what’s that in your hand, flowers?”
“Ugh, he is holding a lab coat too.”
“A medical student is hitting on our friend.”
“Uh…”
“Duen!”
As soon as I shouted, the gear plaza seemed to fall into a vacuum; the teasing noises quieted down. The person whose name I called turned to look at me, smiled happily, and then ran towards me. Wait a minute…for real?
“Are you crazy or what!” I shouted as loud as I could while looking him over. His face was flushed from exhaustion, sweat soaking through his student shirt, indicating how long he had been running. He was tightly gripping flowers in his hand.
“You’re the crazy one! I drove around looking for the flower-selling kid from this morning, and finally found her at XXX, damn it! And when I wanted to bring the flowers to you, you just disappeared, I even got lost! I’ve been searching for this gear plaza for so long. Luckily, Phii Bom was kind enough to bring me here. Damn, you made me skip a class that’s super hard to understand. Do you know this subject is my major? I’m going to die trying to catch up…Hey, you scoundrel, are you even listening to me!” The slender figure was shouting loudly. Meanwhile, everyone in the plaza was silently listening to our conversation, or rather, eavesdropping.
He actually did it…he really bought flowers from that kid…and the shop was almost in another province from our university, but he drove there to buy them, Duen…
“You…are so damn cute.”
“Oh, what’s this, Bohn? Who were you looking for, junior?” A friend standing nearby asked curiously, breaking the silence that had enveloped the gear plaza, with others around raising their eyebrows in confusion.
“Bohn?” Did Duen really think my name was Tiger?
“Nothing much, he came to see me, but I was a bit surprised, him thinking I was
Tiger.”
“What? I thought my friend Tiger was about to end his single life.”
“I’ve thought about it, and it can’t be Tiger. I’ve had my doubts since you said
Tiger was handsome.”
Here’s my other close friend, Bom, the dear friend, I guess I owe him a snack. If it weren’t for him, that little rascal wouldn’t have made it to Gear Plaza, but…the way here isn’t that complicated.
“Exactly, I’m not the famous moon from the university.” Tiger pretended to be hurt, but it looked more like he was just playing along for laughs, and the friends played along, rushing over to pat his head and console him.
“Oh oh. Don’t cry, little Tiger. We have to accept it, medical students don’t like studying kids, it’s not their style.”
“Ha, so what type do they like, my dear friend?”
“They like…rough, raw types, like Bohn!”
“Ho ho ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi hi hi, ho yay!”
“Reeeeeeeeee!!!!”
“Who has kaffir limes to trade for lemons!!!!”
“Who has a daughter, no need to trade!!!”
“My friend’s so weird, he loves drama!!! Bohn has got himself a doctor’s wife yayyyy!!!”
“Reeeeeeeeee!!!!”
“Hey, you guys!! Keep it down!!” I shouted to quiet them down, making the whole plaza go silent, but not for long before I said something that caused another uproar.
“He’s just shy, man.”
“Reeeeeeee.”
“Well, Phii Bom said Nong Duen complimented how handsome you are, huh?” I teased the slender figure.
“I hate your laugh.” He pouted and hit my shoulder hard, ouch, you bastard.
“Why do you always resort to physical violence?”
“Because you’re annoying.”
“How am I annoying?…oh, I have class, let’s go.” I tugged at his shirt to make him follow after I remembered something important, and our friends around each waved goodbye, I had to get back to class. Otherwise, I’d fall out of orbit and wouldn’t catch up with the lessons.
“If you have class, go to class then. Why did you drag me here?”
“I felt like it.”
“Shh! …So, you’re Bohn? Not Tiger?”
“Yeah, you looked so stupid just now, haha.”
“Funny, why didn’t you tell me who you were beforehand? It was so embarrassing for me…I was already embarrassed just carrying flowers for a guy, but now I had to go around asking if anyone knew this guy, where he studied, blah blah…where am I supposed to put my face now, you fool!” My conversation partner shouted, finishing with a look like his life was over.
“Your face is all red, huh.”
“It’s red because I’m mad at you, you bastard, Bohn, what’s so funny?”
“Huh.”
“Still not done! I’m going to punch you now.” Duen looked at me seriously.
“You’re funny…and super stupid.”
“Huh. Why are you insulting me, you scoundrel!”
“Figure it out yourself.”
“You dare to insult me, I skipped class because of you, you ungrateful bastard.”
“…”
“Why are you quiet?”
That’s right…he skipped class for me. Should I say he’s crazy or just a man of his word?
“Give me your phone.” I held out my hand commandingly.
“Why?”
“Just give it to me.”
“So bossy.” He handed over his phone as requested. I then added my contact to his phone before calling out, getting Duen’s number, and handed the phone back to him. I’m not Bohn for nothing, but after a moment, he seemed to realize something.
“Ah, it might have gone to voicemail.”
The medical student bent down to examine the flower in his hand, a large red rose, wrapped in clear plastic like you see everywhere, slightly crumpled, probably because he was holding it tightly.
“…”
“Quiet again? Take it. If you throw it away, I’ll cut your ear off and feed it to Alex.”
“…”
“Huh.”
“Why do you laugh like a psychopath?”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’re still arguing? I can hear you laughing, huh, what’s wrong with you?”
“I won’t throw it away…I’ll keep it well.”
“…”
“Do you have another class?”
I took the flower to hold it; actually, it’s still beautiful. It’s not wilted or rotten like Duen said, how gentle must one be to keep it in this condition?
“I have one more class at noon, I was planning to go to sleep in the library, I’m so tired today.”
“Want to come study with me?”
“Ha, are you crazy? Won’t the professor scold you?”
“No, my friend brought his girlfriend to class, and he didn’t get scolded.”
“You’re lying, you bastard. What class is this?”
“Come on. No scolding. You have another class at noon, right? I’ll be done just in time, then I can treat you to some cake to cheer you up.”
“…”
“You don’t want to?”
“Um…actually, that sounds good, I’m tired and want to sleep.”
“Sometimes, you don’t seem like a med student.” I said what I was thinking, and my conversation partner frowned slightly before his face broke into a wide smile.
“Are you saying I’m not as nerdy as those other guys?”
“No. You seem like an idiot.”
“Damn, Bohn!”
“Yeah, and you speak so crudely, I thought medical students would talk like,
‘Hello, Sommai,’ ‘Yes, Somtong,’ something like that.”
“Have you watched too many movies, you scoundrel…I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
“Bohn…”
“Hmm?”
“This name suits you perfectly, haha.”
“Huh, and what about you, Duenhaw?” I crossed my arms, grinning mockingly at the pale fool.
“Oh, fuck, don’t call me that!” He stopped laughing immediately, probably really didn’t like the name, huh?
“Why not?”
“I don’t like it, it’s weird.”
“It’s kind of cute.” Let me tease you a bit; the name Duenhaw isn’t cute to me, actually, it seems cool.
“Your dad’s cute!” Oh, now my dad’s involved.
“Duenhaw.” I teased again. Predictably, the owner of the name frowned and bared his teeth at me.
“Are you asking for it? I told you not to call me that.” Doesn’t he know the more he reacts, the more I want to tease him, 100 times more?
“Duenhaw, Duenhaw, Duenhaw, Duen…”
“Argh!! You little worm, you clam, you kindergarten Pikachu, you southern bandit, you greedy bastard, you left-eye cramp, you #@$%#^&&.” and a lot more insults that an ordinary person wouldn’t come up with. This guy never ceases to amaze me. Even though we just met yesterday, I feel closer to him than to some friends I’ve known for years.
I looked down at the red rose in my hand. No matter how you look at it, it’s just an ordinary rose you can buy anywhere. Nothing special about it, not luxurious, not expensive…but I felt it was more special than the others, probably because it was bought by this crazy guy.
The crazy guy named Duenhaw…
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